LAND OF THE GIANTS: THE OTHER NIGHTMARES
by Charl
Summary: In the LAND OF THE GIANTS episode NIGHTMARE, we saw Steve's nightmares only...here are the others' nightmares...
1. Chapter 1

LAND OF THE GIANTS

The Delta Effect: The Other Nightmares

Part One-Barry's Nightmare

A twisted, distorted version of the giant forest confused a running Barry. He began by chasing Chipper into the now dark landscape. As he lost his way--and Chipper, his dog--he looked all around him and upward. The giant trees seemed even larger and bulkier than before. He couldn't understand what was happening, especially when he turned around to look for Valerie. She was gone. Or was he?

Barry stood there for a moment, not knowing what to do. Crackling sounds caused him to look up again, toward the massive trees, the top of which blocked the sky with their foliage. He realized the cracking sounds were those of wood when it bends. Five of those trees were tipping straight at him. He ran but the toppling trunks blocked him, squeezing. How could he outrun five falling trees? Any one of them could equal ten Empire State Buildings. It was a waste of energy to push on one of the trunks to try to divert its course but doing so, gave him ample time to spot a space between trees. Scurrying into near total darkness, Barry fell. He started to catch his breath when he felt the presence of many somethings all around him. He dared to peer about him. Dimly lit were strange, oddly shaped bushes which suggested the forest again. But it wasn't the forest--only some far-out imagined child's version of what a forest should be. Above each cardboard like bush there popped in, odd round shaped lights. Most had a partner, two together, but some had three or four in the same vicinity. In the growing quiet, Barry tensed and moved forward to investigate. Before he could get close to one of the odd lights which hovered above the bushes as a street light over a road, the loud sound of an oncoming car startled him. The car was not seen but its head lights shone from an invisible point onto the owner of the two lights in front of Barry. Above him, in the shadowy glare, he saw a very still and unmoving giant grasshopper. The lights were its eyes. Again, it was more a caricature of what a grasshopper should be, rather than what a grasshopper actually looked like.

Horror filled him as he realized--all those odd lights also belonged to some giant insect. Or something worse. Their croaking, creaking, whistling, chirping, chomping, singing sounds only now reverberated around this mock-forest, deafening Barry's thoughts. He covered his ears and saw that the other lights began to move--awkward, stilted jerks--but they were converging toward him. As the trees before them, the insect-animals were trying to surround him. He ran, avoiding the hop of the grasshopper. Other forms became clear to him in the dimness: a spider, a preying mantis, a gila monster, a red ant, and a caterpillar. All foaming at the mouth, and all gigantic. Bigger than they should have been, even for the land of the giants.

Barry ran on as he never ran before. "Valerie? Valerie! Where are you? Val !" He relaxed as her familiar voice echoed in the blackness, "Oh Valerie, it's you. I thought...oh, never mind."

"Yes, Barry," the voice intoned, "I told you that taking a risk like this was just plain stupid! Don't you ever listen to anyone?"

He whirled around and faced the area where the voice came from. From the blackness came Valerie. But her face was stretched, contorted, widening. It also swooped out of the sky toward him. Val's horrible face was that of a giant. As he body became more visible to him, Barry could see that she was a Giant. "No! How?"

A huge, usually friendly face, lowered toward him, "No Barry, we're just big like a giant."

"Dan!" Barry whispered, "You too? No!" He turned to run but a black boot blocked his path.

"You are going to do what I say," Steve, a giant, gleamed angrily, "Do you understand!"

Another giant yelled, "You should have stayed back there with the others, Barry."

"Mark," Barry felt defeated. Nevertheless, he ran but fell as he hit a large wall, colored black. He stood as quickly as possible, "What is this?" High above him, high above the weird smiling versions of Dan, Mark, Val, Steve, and Fitzhugh, a face appeared. "Inspector Kobick?"

"You see," Kobick laughed, "They're not giants. I am." He went on, putting his glasses higher up on his nose, "But you, you are a little person even among little people!" Kobick broke out into an exaggerated, shriek of laughter. "They treat you the way I treat them. Less than little." Only at this, Barry realized this black wall was the base of Kobick's own shoe. Kobick was so impossibly huge, Barry wondered how he could move at all.

Barry dashed behind Kobick, away from his former companions and tripped. He fell over a dozen soda bottle caps, all giant, and he kept falling. He landed finally. Barry opened his eyes to a blurry world. Images were unclear but he saw four adults standing over him. As he focused, he could make out Betty and Steve to one side, Val and Mark to the other. Betty's voice was heard, "Oh, yes, here they are."

"Doctor, I'm not doing it right," Steve said but it sounded harsh, almost a command as if Steve didn't want to do it correctly. At least he and the others were all normal size. But... something was wrong. Mark, Betty, and Valerie all wore clothes they hadn't worn since last year. The clothes were the same ones they had crashed here in. Time was backed up. Their faces became more clear.

"Let me do it. I am qualified," Betty remarked. Or did she? "Give that to me!"

Betty and Steve arguing? Barry, groggy, couldn't recall the last time that happened, if it ever did. He managed to pick his sedated head up and saw Betty trying to wrest a scalpel away from Steve. Then the boy noticed his own clothes. The trousers he wore were the ones he first came here in, like the others he had on clothes he hadn't worn for a year at least. The shirt sleeve seemed to be his old shirt. He then noted the shirt was pulled up, his trousers opened slightly at the waist. He panicked. He was not supposed to be awake during the operation. He must have been sedated because, tensely, he noticed he couldn't move much.

The scalpel ended up buried in his abdomen. He knew he was not sedated now because of the pain it caused. Betty and Steve forgot their fight and Barry knew this because both were wearing overly pleased, sadistic grins. Whichever of them was stabbing him, they both were deriving satisfaction from it. Perhaps they were both doing this--now moving the blade around his lower stomach. Barry closed his eyes in pain. He had to reject this.

"NO!" He sprang up, tearing the robe and shirt off of himself. For a moment, he seemed naked from the waist up but then his normal, present day clothes appeared on him. Avoiding the crushing foot of old Dr. Brule, Barry kept moving.

Betty snatched the scalpel back from Steve, "But wait, we're not finished yet."

Barry's running made him remember his original goal, "Chipper." He had to find his little dog. He once more stopped in his tracks. For towering over him was the dog he sought. Chipper wasn't playful anymore. His tail did not wag but his teeth were bared, ready to strike. Barry noticed the dog's eyes which seemed evil and intent on harm--how human the canine's eyes now were. Chipper, the giant dog, leapt to pounce on Barry. The boy, no longer stunned by anything in this nightmare world, was ready. He raced under Chipper's body, toward the dog's posterior. This enabled him to make a break away. Had Chipper been a giant cat, a back paw could have stopped the boy but the dog missed Barry entirely.

Barry ran until he saw complete blackness--absolute nothingness. Nothing stood where he ended up. He sank to his knees, defeated mentally rather than physically. He put his hands over his face in an effort to cry. The release wouldn't come. Not yet. Two human size hands touched him from behind. One rested on each shoulder. Barry, removed his own hands, daring not to turn around. He saw, directly in front of him, a simple little dirt walkway surrounded by perfectly laid rows of stones. To either side of the walkway lay multi colored flowers in a wonderful garden. The walkway ended in a step up to a cabin house, small but quaint, neatly built. Barry saw behind it a rod iron fence, other smaller homes built similar to army barracks. None were as nice as the closest to him. A masculine voice said, "We have to leave now, Barry."

Wide eyed with a mixture of shock and joy, Barry quickly stood and turned, all in one move. The red haired woman attired in a formal blue evening gown, smiled down, "But we'll be back. Your father is a good driver."

"NO!" Barry pulled his father's arm, "NO!"

"He's right--I'm not," his dark haired, blue eyed father laughed. "Just because I can handle sea going vehicles all the time doesn't mean I can't drive."

Barry's eyes began to well up as he hugged his father, "No! I mean there will be an accident. You'll die."

"How morbid," Mrs. Lockridge patted his head as if he were still eleven.

Mr. Lockridge scuffed Barry's hair, "We'll be back. Then we'll all take that long trip I've promised. I have some vacation time coming my way now that I'm higher up in rank. So we can visit those third cousins of yours in England. You should get to know them, stay with them."

As Mr. Lockridge talked, he and his wife began walking, hand in hand, toward an opening in the fence. Funny, the gate didn't seem to be there before. Barry, crying, pulled on their combined hands. "I don't want to go live with them. I want to be with both of you!"

"You will be," his mother said, sounding cold.

"Oh, this is how they are when they're little. So little. He'll get over it and when we leave him in the future, he'll be used to it." They kept walking and Barry's grip on them loosened. He didn't loosen it but some outside force made it loosen and was intent on making him let go--to allow him to suffer--to make him think he didn't do anything to save them. Barry was doubly intent on holding on. But before his eyes and within his hands appeared different couples. His father became Steve Burton, walking with his mother who became Valerie Scott. The two peered at him, coldly. Then a small smile. A drizzle effect passed over his eyes. The couple became Mark Wilson and Betty Hamilton. They were at the gate now. Barry's drip loosened and he fell back. Mark let go of Betty's hand, "I told you to stay back there."

His tears watered his eyes and cheeks. Then Mark became Dan; Betty became Mr. Fitzhugh. Fitzhugh waved, "Good bye, my boy."

"No, not all of you, too. You're all going to die," Barry gasped out, "...leave me like they did...I can't...go through it all over again," Barry wiped his tears.

Betty's former words echoed, "I'll take you home with me and you'll never be an orphan again."

Dan became Mr. Lockridge; Fitzhugh, Mrs. Lockridge. Barry's father opened the limo door, "Nice car but no driver, so I must be your chauffeur."

Barry yelled, "It won't be your fault. That truck, it'll go out of control. You won't have a chance!"

His mother closed the door. His father waved and slid into the seat from the other side of the limo. She asked, "What's he saying now?"

Barry heard their talk through the limo window even though it was rolled up. "Oh, you know him. Good imagination. He's a little boy. Next thing you know he'll be imagining he's stuck on a planet filled with giants."

"Oh you, stop," Mrs. Lockridge playfully said and slapped her husband's shoulder.

"Yeah, giant people, giant animals, humongous insects, big bottles of soda..."

"You're such a kidder." The limo drove off under its own power as the father kissed the mother's cheek. Barry ran out of the gate but the car became transparent, then vanished completely. Overly exhausted, he let the grief overtake him. He fell forward this time. He landed onto his hands and knees.

Night turned into day. Something warm and familiar licked Barry's hand. "Chipper?" Barry stood up, now surrounded by the well lit forest. It looked normal. So did Chipper--he found this out by cuddling the happy dog. As he put the dog down, he realized that his mother died in a car accident two weeks before Spindrift took off from LA Airport. His father died years before that. Barry dried the last of his tears. "Hey, boy." Barry sat there for a few minutes, playing with the dog, forgetting his outlandish nightmare. Finally, he stood up, "Come on, Chipper, we've got to find the others."

Purposefully, Barry headed for the Spindrift camp with Chipper following in a loyal strut. His friends had to be around somewhere and the ship was the best place to search. It was after all the only safe place on this land of giants.


	2. Chapter 2

Part One and a Half--Chipper's Nightmare

Chipper's nightmare is worth mentioning but not in detail. It was very similar to Barry's nightmare. The major difference was that he kept having nightmarish visions of Barry leaving him. Other than the stray giant cat that attacked the dog, Chipper's nightmare was akin to Barry's.

Part Two-Betty's Nightmare

Inside Spindrift's passenger compartment, Betty put the finishing touches on Dan's sling. He had hurt his shoulder escaping Dr. Burger's probing walking cane. The giant had come very close to the camp but he left, no explanation could come to him as to why. Probably Andre's doing. "There. That ought to hold."

Dan looked at her from the red chair and smiled, "Feels better already. Thanks." He stood to go out.

"Wait," Betty thumbs through a medical book, "It prescribes at least five minutes rest."

Dan smirked, "Okay, okay. I give in. But only for five minutes." Dan sat back and closed his eyes.

Betty quietly recollected all the galley dinner utensils from the floor. When Burger hit the ship, her collection had spilled all over. She was storing them in one box so that they would be easy to find if the ship was ever in flight again--something they were hoping would happen very soon after the device were working properly..

Finishing, she carried the box outside, nearly colliding with Fitzhugh, who was carrying a box of his own. He lets her pass. Betty stopped him, "Where'd Steve take off to?"

"He went after Valerie and Barry."

"Are they in trouble?"

"I don't think so. Look, this is heavy. Can I go in now?"

As Fitzhugh did so, Betty called after him, "Steve hasn't ordered us to load up the ship yet."

Fitzhugh rolled his eyes and pretended he didn't hear. Betty decided to heave the box down to the stream and clean the plates. Upon arriving in the clearing of foliage, she felt tired. To refresh her, she moved to the edge of the stream to throw water on her face. She knelt down but two eyes stared up at her through the haze of water. A titanic sneaker rose up and made ready to strike. Betty turned to run but slow motion, multi colored lights hit her, making her run as if in a dream. She strained to move. The snake uncoiled out of the stream, mouth open. It dove for Betty but the lights made her vanish. The snake hit the ground, face first.

The church was an old one. Not dilapidated, just old. It reminded Betty of a church they experienced in Ekman's ghost town of toys. Only this church had plenty of activity as cars and limos were parked outside and people hurried in, dressed in tuxedos and best Sunday dress. She knew none of these people but she began to follow them into the church vestibule. A hurrying woman, reminding Betty of Valerie's secretary, Miss Smitty, nearly knocked her down. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I really must hurry inside. But in your condition...anyhow I many congratulations." The woman sped off into one of the church pus.

Betty became aware of herself. She was undeniably pregnant. Her eyes widened until she realized it must be Steve's baby. It had to be. She slowly walked into the church. She kept walking toward the front of the walkway, to the front of the altar. There she could see two figures, a bride and a groom with their backs to her. A familiar voice was making them take their vows. Betty felt happy as if in a dream of her own making. She always cried at weddings. The figures grew closer as she neared them. The bride turned to stare fully at Betty. It was Valerie Ames Scott, who then smiled at seeing her.

It was a smile that didn't feel right to Betty, who was demeaned by it. She naturally figured the groom to be Mark but she wasn't sure. An Earth sized Andre was dressed as a minister, wearing glasses, and ignoring her. Then the groom turned to gloat in her direction. Steve Burton gave a half crooked smile. All along he and Valerie were teasing her and play acting. fooling her into a false sense of friendship. Betty felt her stomach even as her legs gave out. The church tilted and dropped upward. Betty's back hit a soft couch like pad.

She was in a completely white room with surgical table, lights, and instruments all around. A window frame floated on what should have been a wall. The world was white. Figures of people moved to and fro--all dressed in white doctor outfits--all readying knives, magnifying glasses, stirrups. Betty found her arms and legs were strapped down so tightly she couldn't move them. Her arms were to her sides. A very familiar face came toward her and looked directly into her eyes. "Betty, you all right?"

"Mark, thank God," she choked out, "Did you see?"

"Yes, well, don't you worry, Betty," Mark patted her arm, "We'll get them back. They're plotting against us even now. They want to kill us," he leaned close and whispered. "But don't you worry, not to worry, we'll kill them tonight." His voice rose, "Kill them! Kill them!" He grabbed a scalpel nearby a giant one and waved it like a sword. Which is what it became.

Betty was crying in uncontrolled sobs, terror wracking her body. "Mark, who's baby am I carrying? Is it yours? I know it's not possible but how can the baby be...be Steve's if he is marrying Valerie?"

Mark paid no attention, "It'll make you feel better. Hey, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. Just for you. I'll kill Steve first." Mark moved out, past the moving doctors and nurses who continued their pattern of work--without getting anything accomplished.

"Mark, wait! Come back! Get me out of here!" Betty felt spasms. The baby was coming--ready to be born. "Whose baby am I carrying?"

A giant face looked in the window that wasn't a real window. "MINE." It was Kobick's face and voice. "Remember when we were alone in my office? Well."

Betty screamed through Kobick's horrid, loud laughter. This couldn't be. None of it was true. She rejected all of what she heard. Around her the doctors and nurses made a circle, hovering over her with masks guarding their faces. The few near her took their masks off.

They were her friends.

Barry with a knife and drill, "Now I get my revenge!"

Valerie with a fork, "Oh Betty, you are such an innocent little fool. You and Mark, what a laugh." She added her laughter to that of Barry and Kobick.

Steve had a giant pin, "I'm ready too. I want to pin the diapers on."

"Just save her appendix for me," Barry's eyes told of his fascination with this malice.

Betty screamed again and kicked a foot up as far as she could. She kicked against Steve, moving the bed she was on. It toppled. She found herself in her old uniform in front of a rusted and crack filled Spindrift, long since covered over by vines, weeds, and other growth. Cobwebs seemed to form a drapery over the open doorway. Rust littered the side of the hull. The lighting frames near the windows hung off and showed cracks. The top bubble on the ship was smashed in. But to Betty this was home. She didn't seem to register the condition of the ship. She put her arms out. She was free, she was not having a baby, and her friends were all around. Steve and Mark. They were on either side. Mark yelled, "I say we continue working."

"I didn't tell you to risk all of us," Steve tried to grab him through Betty.

Fitzhugh and Valerie. Val said, "Quick, Fitzhugh, get your gun!"

"No, my money," Fitzhugh squealed.

Val tried to push past him to get to the Spindrift hallway door. "I'll get it and shoot you. You ate all our food."

The four began a physical fight all around Betty, frequently drawing her into it, pounding each other. No one seemed to hear her protests or her attempts at making peace. Betty broke free of them just as Barry came out of the ship's cobwebbed doorway, separating it with his arms.

"You're not my mother! You'll never take me home! Don't think you can replace her!" A gun came up from his side. He aimed at Betty, who turned quickly toward him at the sound of his voice.

Betty saw the gun aiming directly at her. She turned back the other way and started to run. It became a slow motion run again, while the others fought on in a speeded up motion. A shot rang out, echoing. Betty fell, having tripped over a vine. Se fell into what seemed to be a pit. From the sheer blackness inside it, huge indescribable things reached for her.

She landed on soft hay. She blinked awake some hours later. Her eyes adjusted to the waking world. The smell made her feel alive. Was this the waking world? It felt like it, smelled like it. She felt hay beneath her and spied gigantic wooden structures above her. She didn't know how she arrived and made her way out of the funny lights but she was at the giants' stable area. This was where people learned to ride horses--some rode show horses, training themselves and the animals to do tricks, jumps over wooden planks, and hurtles. Betty stood, brushed herself off and watched from behind a wooden piece of fence-the bottom of a huge wooden pole. A giant rider came in on an immense horse. She was back to normality. Or as near as one could get on this planet. A rider who was seventy feet tall aback a forty foot horse, which was as long as the female rider was tall, was normality for the land of the giants.


	3. Chapter 3

Part Three-Valerie's Nightmare

After Dr. Burger just set her free, Valerie, invisible to both that giant and Andre, their ally, slid down a lamp cord to the floor. She instinctively hid at a table leg once she reached the floor. Then carefully and overflowing with amazed relief, Val showed herself in the open. She smiled. What a joy to be able to show herself like this--to walk freely among giants. Raising her eyebrows to a thankful expression, Val decided to "get moving while the moving was good." She slipped under the door to the office. The first object which caught her attention was the large, lumbering body of Inspector Kobick. She wasn't sure would be invisible to him or if the effect wore off again. He was unaware of her presence. The problem was he was approaching quickly--his foot was a scant three feet from her. Something hit Val hard. She seemed to pass out--and to get thrown in utter blackness. Had Kobick kicked her? Val felt as if he had or perhaps, she thought, he brushed past her, kicking her without realizing it. Valerie rolled over and stood up. Did she black out? Was she still unconscious--or dead? She shook her head clear and stood to her feet fully to face whatever it was. "IT" was a towering, very aware Kobick--who stood watching her. A grim, sadistic smile graced his wide angle face from ear to ear. Val stood defiant, "I'm not afraid of you anymore! I've been on this planet for a good, long time now. Almost two years. I'm more used to it than before. Nothing you can throw at me can make me afraid anymore. Why this is almost home to me!"

Kobick laughed. A loud one which seemed to break Val's ear drums. She ran. "Go ahead run. You can't get away from my traps. From our traps. I have the whole giant population on my side. We are you know, well, you really do know--we are, well, giants. Hadn't you realized that we're bigger than you are--and on this planet we matter, our lives make a difference. Does you own infinitesimal life?"

As Val ran under a door that seemed to be floating in blackness, she also ducked from Kobick's swinging foot. He obviously thought this was some kind of joke--his whole manner seemed mocking, deriving an uncontrollable hysterical fun from what he had said. He hadn't sounded angry or mad as he would normally. Not at all serious--yet believing what he said and trying to control his guffaws of laughter. Val ran and found herself running in a rocky gully.

The rocks were too big for quick escapes and she couldn't run over them. It took her minutes to scramble across just one slightly tilted rock which was flat on one side, a crevice and cracks on the other. She felt her progress was slow. She peered behind her and saw Kobick's feet mashing stones she had just crawled over.

She managed over one last rock and began to fall into a slide. She felt her stomach go hollow. Her feet hit ground--on some small two inch rock ledge. Below was a black pit. It was moving. Val squinted. Some mass was in it. The pit seemed to be filled with squirming, writhing, many legged insect monsters! Maggots. This was a cliff. Val stared down, then up. Above, Kobick's face rose against the black clouded sky--if it was a sky. He smiled, "Afraid? Just admit it and I'll scoop you up."

Val nodded a no to him slowly as if her head were difficult to move. She forced herself to look down, transfixed on the livid, pale colored worms of slime oozing over each other. They were on a garbage pile. A stick passed up Val and brushed under the ledge she was on. The rock support under it gave way and slid down into the pit. Kobick was doing this. A maggot, hoping for food, rose up to greet the debris. It hissed its maw in hunger. Val saw what the maggots were feeding on--a dead, bloody rat. Or what was left of it.

Kobick brushed the stick under the ledge more, "Oh come on, admit it," he laughed.

Val could not look down or up. She imagined a maggot crawling its way up to her. One seemed to rise up in front of her, searching for something to eat. The putrid small made her gag. The ledge was crumbled into nothingness. Val turned to grab onto the rocky cliff wall but couldn't find a place to grab onto. She slid down, screaming. A soft, fluffy landing. She bounced. Val moved upward, composing herself as best she could, brushing her hair with her hand. She walked along a strand. Val's relief ended with an inner growing trepidation. She walked along a safety strand in a gigantic, pearl-like spider web. It was draped across two stones, spiraling to a center. Val dared move pupils to that center--in it sat a four foot, hairy, bulbous headed, plump bellied spider. It pawed at a hairy sack. Dozen of foot long baby spiders began a march along the strands--for their food--Val. She would be their first feeding.

Val had watched when Major Kagen, an Earth astronaut they met just after they first landed, was eaten by a single spider. It was horrible then and would be so now. This death wouldn't be the same: the lone spider had stung him as it swallowed him whole. These would cover her while each used its own deadly dart in her. All vying for flesh. Or perhaps the spiders would subdue her for the now moving mother mass in the center. Val tripped and fell forward, then back. She was stuck on her back in web with no escape. She watched as the babies replaced her foot. Whether they bit into it, she didn't know. She kicked. A giant hand wiped Val, the spiders, and the web away. They tumbled in a mass, rolled in a gooey, sticky ball. Val fell out. She fell onto a dirt floor near a log, set against a dark swamp--murky and black. On the log a giant frog jumped. Val jumped too--onto her feet which were whole and unmolested. She saw Kobick's foot nearby, assessing her fear.

"Why are you doing this? I am not afraid!" But she was. Swooping out of near blackness, a fanged, hairy flash cut clawed feet into the frog. A demon, a devil faced, near blind mammal with swishing wings that caused enough wind to flatten the tiny girl. In a flash, the bat made off with its prey. Val stood up again, "Okay, so it got the frog. It missed me--I'm too small a meal for it."

"What about..." Kobick's voice indicated a feigned search for something, a thing he already had his sights on, "..oh...them." He pointed.

Val saw a large swarm of bats blocked out the clouds. The flurry of flapping wings deafened her. Val thought she could feel the claws touching her hair, then her head. She shook her head free and ran on. Valerie collapsed. It seemed hours passed before she squinted her eyes open and blinked the haze away. Someone pulled her up by the wrist. "Mark. Oh, Mark. I've never been so glad to see anyone. Oh Mark, what's happening, Mark?"

Mark's friendly face beamed, "Val, are you okay?"

"Yes, but why did it get so dark? Why...?"

Mark could see that Val had undergone some trauma. He put two hands on her shoulders, "Val, relax. You're okay now."

"Yes," she eased herself, looking down, very tired.

"Val, have I told you lately how much I care about you?"

Val looked up, a wisp of a smile on her face, "Mark, no, but I appreciate the thought."

"No, I mean, I really like you..."

"Mark, I know, I really do. But I mean, is this the time to..."

"But I must tell you--I don't think you know how much..."

Val shrugged her shoulders free of Mark's hands, "C'mon, Mark...this isn't the time. We have to find the others. Barry...and where are Dan and Steve? Weren't they with you?"

"I don't care about them...I only care about you..."

Val gulped. She didn't like the way he was talking and how it grew more and more obsessed. His eyes glazed over. Val backed away, stopped, and then turned and ran. She knew his intent. His face told her. She ran through bushes which seemed to move up in front of her of their own accord, blocking her way. Finally she ran into arms--those of Steve.

"Ohhhh! Steve! Steve, help me. It's Kobick...I mean Mark...he's..oh Steve..."

Steve looked past her, "I'll help you, Val."

Val put her arm to her brow to wipe. "Steve, you don't know what I've been through..."

Steve focused on her again, entirely. "I'll help you."

"Thank God," Val puffed, "He's gone crazy. I don't..." she read Steve's smiling face. His eyes had the same crazed look. "Oh no!"

Steve shook her over to a tree stump, "But first..."

Val gasped, "NO, NO! Steve, what...what are you doing!"

Val brought her knee into Steve's stomach as he came closer. As he folded over, she scratched him so he would let her go. She continued her flight but didn't stop until she was far off into the forest. Trying to control her breathing, she leaned on a yellow, log which was on its side.

"Dan!" She saw Dan coming out from behind the fallen, yellow log. "Dan!"

"Yes, Valerie, me too. Surprised?"

"Oh Dan, no," Val cried. "I won't let you!"

"You won't remember any of this," Dan came at her. Val grabbed a tree branch from the ground and swung. Dan fell back. Val ran and also fell. Into blackness again.

With a flash, she landed into daylight in a pile of soft flowering plants. She passed out. Soon, she would come to and head for what usually was a place of safety--Spindrift. But was it? Nothing familiar seemed safe now. Everything seemed changed. Bent. She had to find out what was happening. Mark. He would be the one to tell her everything. She had to find him first, fear or not.

Part Four-Dan's Nightmare

Dan felt for the top of the curb. Steve had begun to lift him up but now there was no Steve. Mark wasn't on top the curb to give him a helping hand. To Dan, they had vanished. Something about his surroundings, the way they had changed yet really hadn't, told him he had been bounced into yet another land. Getting himself on top the curb, Dan looked into the street--and heard the sounds of rushing vehicles which informed him that the monster motorcars and trucks were there, only he couldn't see them. Dan wanted to panic, to run for cover. He composed himself as best he could. The lab was his destination before he experienced those funny lights.

Dan plodded on toward the lab, avoiding any sound of giant people and animals. He ran onto a lab table, not knowing how he arrived on it or how he came to be in the lab so suddenly. He knew he had to help Steve--and Valerie. He ran toward dissecting slides where he somehow instinctively knew the pair had been scotch taped down. Dan stopped short. He was too late. Steve and Val were already dissected, opened up. He stared in horror, knowing the bodies before him were too mangled to be stared at for long. Dan gulped, forcing himself away in despair. How could he hope to manage their little group? He leaned against a giant microscope which held a slide under it. The parts of his former friends' internal organs that were on that slide made Dan run. His stomach churned and tightened all at once. Dan plunged into to a drawer, half open. He rolled off its edge and hit a stack of books which toppled, Dan above. He fell over the rain of mammoth objects.

In darkness, Dan shook himself. He leaped off his back and spied a red object. He hastened to it. It was the Spindrift, he thought. Or was it? It looked too cardboard-ish. Almost a cartoon of its real image. He had to try to find out what it was.

Dan fled into the cockpit, quickly buckling himself in. With Steve dead, he was in command. He couldn't bear the decisions this giant land would call for. He made one now--they would attempt--he would attempt--an orbital stab through the space-time warp that brought them here not long ago. How long? Time seemed disturbed.

Dan already shot Spindrift up past the trees. He wondered about the others back in the passenger compartment: beautifully innocent Betty, the hopeful, little Barry, the trusting Mark, the voluptuous Valerie, and the comical Fitzhugh. Wait--Valerie was dead, wasn't she? And at this point, was Fitzhugh comical? Mark, all that trusting?

Dan saw the shining green space time warp. He focused the ship at its center. A movement caught Dan's eye. Steve--or parts of him--were in the control room with him. A hand slapped his shoulder. A disembodied hand. "I told you. We didn't have the power. We couldn't achieve orbit." Steve smiled.

"No. But we are in orbit!" Dan sweated. This was not possible.

"Not for long," Steve smiled and then laughed, his mouth twisted up, "You'll be joining Valerie and I soon."

Steve was correct. Spindrift never reached the ball of green. Her nose dipped downward, the green haze over the cockpit and Dan's face dipped upward. Spindrift plunged at the planet. Dan dripped the controls. The ship flew down, down, down. The forest sprang up to meet them ship. Dan's stomach flopped as the ship splashed into a watery pit of sand. Water and sand piled into the cockpit from the air vents. Dan thrust the ship up, out of the pit. The ship skipped over the sand.

Dan's fear broke with a laugh as he realized the Spindrift had escaped. He saw the thickness of two trees ahead. Just in time, he turned the controls. Yet Spindrift wouldn't turn. She skidded through a flat, dark nightmare landscape--into trees. The whole ship blew up as it hit them. Behind him, he could feel the ship deteriorate in the mass of heat and flame! Dan was flipped from the spaceship--his entire seat was ripped from the cockpit, reddish-yellow explosions behind and beneath him--where the ship should have been. As he flew through mid air, Dan grappled to unbuckle himself. His seat, hurtling beneath him to its doom, was enveloped by quicksand. Dan also fell at the bog.

He stood up, alert. Why wasn't he hurt? He winced. Maybe he was hurt. "What the hell is going on here..?"

"Help! Help! Help! Help!" There were several voices. All familiar. Dan turned with barely enough time to grieve for those on the ship that must now be dead. One cry made him move toward it. Betty was scotch taped in front of a giant tire belonging to a giant car. As the tire did, he rushed toward her but another cry of, "Help," caught his attention. Turning, Barry was surrounded by a family of fat, slime trailing slugs! Who should he rush to? The creatures moved at the boy, spouting gooey substances at him. To another side, Dan saw Marl calling for help as the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner sucked him up. Mark grabbed onto a crate for support. Fitzhugh was nearby too, tied to a giant railroad with a train coming. From its window yelled Dan's former giant friend Biff Bower, who was black like Dan. Two black giants--a man and a woman looked down at a confused, anxious, and helpless Dan.

Dan called, "Help the boy and the men. Please! I'll get the girl!"

"No," the man laughed, "We are the ones who put them where they are!"

The black giantess smiled, "Did you think we were friends just because we were black?"

"My dear, isn't that prejudice--in reverse, really just another form of prejudice?"

"I believe so, dear. We are people. And as such..." the woman went on, "...we can act any way we want--and we want them to die!"

Dan moved to help Betty first, "I can't help all of you! Forgive me!" As Dan untied Betty, he thought he felt the wheel crushing him as it rammed into his back. Betty reached up for Dan, he thought she meant to help him.

But Betty turned into a copy of himself. "A clone!" Dan gasped. It pulled him down, "I'm the one who gets to live this time! You're not going anywhere!" Dan was sure the wheel would be on both of them. It rolled at them both and he saw it just as he hit the black floor with the clone, both struggling.

Dan rolled back from the tire and the dark floor gave out under him. He fell and fell into more darkness. He rolled past a window. He thought on the other side of it, he saw Steve falling. Dan reached out to help him but fell out of it himself. He fell and fell, down and down.

Dan landed out of his nightmare onto a pavement near a lamp post. After a long while, he recovered and when he checked himself, he was amazed that he still had his radio attached to his belt. He opened it, "Steve, Mark, Fitzhugh? Can any of you hear me? If you can, please answer me. Come in?"


	4. Chapter 4

Part Five-Fitzhugh's Nightmare

"Mister Fitzhugh. Mister Alexander Fitzhugh?"

"Yes, it is, Mister Fitzhugh."

"So that's the name he goes by now."

"Oh no. No, no. That's the name I've given him."

Voices from the darkness. Fitzhugh found himself in a swivel chair. His own size chair. A glaring, bright light was above him. Another light was behind dais which held many figures. They seemed Earth sized. "How...how did you get me back here?"

"How do you answer the charges?"

Fitzhugh thought he recognized the voice, "You. Jim? Jim Phelps?"

"Yes, it is me. It's been a long time. And don't say my real name again, Fitzhugh. Understand? Don't answer. Answer the charges."

"What? What charges?" Fitzhugh cowered.

A light revealed Paras, an agent Fitzhugh knew but not well. Paras said, "Of stealing the money we consigned for you to bring to London."

"That was my mission. I had the money. I was about to deliver to Rollin Hand and Barney Collier in London when our ship crashed."

"Do not lie," Phelps said, walking closer to him from the darkness, "Isn't the truth that you stole it from us?"

"No, no. You knew the plan. Why, it was your own. We...we had to make it look like a robbery--the man I took it from obtained it illegally. He was a criminal...he stole from the US government...the taxpayers."

"Isn't the truth, Alex, that once you got your greedy, little paws on all that delicious green money, you were going to keep it."

It was not really a question but something Fitzhugh heard as a statement. Paras continued, "...and that you sabotaged the Spindrift. Sent it into a time-space warp which we already knew the position of. That is the truth, isn't it?"

"No, no, no. None of that is. None!"

"Only you figured on getting out of it--in some other country...some other time perhaps."

"No!" Fitzhugh stood.

"Sit down!" Phelps' voice boomed. Fitzhugh sat down right away.

"You were undercover for us," the red-blonde haired Casey added, "You were to fool the ring of men and women that kept undermining our economy."

"And..." a familiar voice from another shadowy figure began, "Once shipwrecked you continued to allow your friends and fellow companions to go on thinking your true identity was a thief, a con artist, a..."

"Before I joined IMF, I really was," Fitzhugh pleaded.

"Fitzhugh, do not mention IMF again," Barney spat.

The voice before Barney belonged to Barry, who was now revealed by a light that went on. "Sentence him."

Another light went on to show Dan. "He made us trust him. He played a role, lied to us!"

Valerie. "He betrayed us!'

Mark. "He masqueraded as our friend!"

Betty. "He was never truthful with us!"

Steve. "Sentence is ostracism. Forever."

Jim walked closer to Fitzhugh. "Do you know what that means? Total aloneness. You'll be sent back."

"Back?" Fitzhugh sat, watching Jim circle all around him as they spoke. "Back where?"

"To the land," Jim circled, "But by yourself. You'll have no companions, no Dan, no Steve...your captain, no Mark, no little boy Barry, no girls, not even your dog. Why, Fitzhugh, you won't even have any giants around to talk to. And what greater hell can there be, I ask you, for a con man to have than for him to be in a world with no one. Totally alone. The only one on the planet--you, yourself, and you."

The six little people all said in unison, "Send him! He was never one of us anyway! Send him! Send him now!"

"NO!" Fitzhugh felt his chair rise up on a stall, then remove itself from the floor. He saw it propelled through the greenish ball that lead the Spindrift to the land of the giants in the first place. Fitzhugh wouldn't be alone. He jumped off his chair.

Fitzhugh landed feet first on a street. He was fine, physically. Yet the world he was on was dark. The few street lights he saw, suddenly dimmed. The lights of the city went out one by one. The cars were gone. The people were gone. They were giants but Fitzhugh couldn't even hear their footsteps. They weren't invisible--they weren't there any more.

Spindrift: that's home now. He searched for it. He couldn't find the forest the ship rested in. The darkness grew around him. Fitzhugh walked aimlessly. The darkness covered him. He continued to walk and walk. He would do so until he either fell asleep or...died. Time seemed to go on and on. His shoes seemed to wear out as he moved across the giant land, alone, as they had said. There was no sign of life anywhere. He wandered in and out of the darkness, no one around at all. He seemed to go like this for hours-reaching into days, into weeks, months, years...he wasn't sure that without anyone to interact with, that he, or others for that matter, had a personality. After time, Fitzhugh felt old, very old and gray. He gave up.

Dull lights shot his head. Fitzhugh found a curb. He was on a street. Had he ever left the one he landed on? His eyes focused on a red figure he saw fall from the sky and land. Another terror?

"Captain? Captain Burton? Is that you? Steve?" At first, he couldn't be sure but then as he focused his eyes he was positive. He had found the one person on this and any other planet that could make him feel safe: Steve Burton was here. Fitzhugh moved closer to wake him from his own nightmare, knowing fully that what transpired before this was his own such nightmare. His friends here could never condemn him.

Part Six-Mark's Nightmare

After Mark talked with Valerie by radio, warning her away from Spindrift, he found himself avoiding image less Giants. He could hear them walking along the sidewalk near the alley he travelled across. He walked and walked, running at one point from the meow of a gigantic cat. After a sizzling effect there seemed to be instant light. He wasn't sure how long he travelled but he was sure it wasn't long enough for him to see dawn. After that sizzling effect, dawn was just what Mark saw. He hurried back toward the ship. Valerie and Betty were there, both in older outfits. Betty was opening a straight pin while Val had a hair pin.

Steve was there also. He wore a white button down shirt. Mark's shirt. Mark approached them, "Hey, what's the idea, Steve, why are you wearing..." it was then he noticed his own clothes. He was sporting Steve's red flight jacket and trousers. Mark was too stunned to comment but he found himself drawn into the others' conversation.

"Valerie," Betty interjected, "Mark is our captain. The kind of trouble we're in, there can be only one man in charge."

"Really," Steve snootily puffed out, "I didn't exactly have plan a mutiny."

Val smiled, "Why not? A little mutiny would be fun."

Mark put his hand to his head, "Enough of this silly talk. We have work to do."

"Like getting that gun?"

"No, like helping me," a voice said.

From behind them, a blonde Earth girl came walking into the camp, parting the bushes. Mark was startled, "Marna? How?"

"You. You invited me, silly. You are the leader here," she smiled blankly, "You said it would be okay. Isn't it?"

"Yes, Marna," meekly Mark put out, "But I thought..."

Val and Betty screamed. Two giants bent over the ship, scooping it up and Betty and Valerie with it. One picked up the ship and held it high while the other dropped Valerie and Betty inside. Mark saw Steve run and turned to face Marna. She stood dumbly, her eyes expressionless--out of sync with her permanent smiling mouth. Mark couldn't bear her face. He ran into the forest, avoiding the giants she worked for. He ran headlong into Dan who grabbed him by the collar, "You fool!"

"Dan! Let go!"

Dan smacked him, backhanded. Mark fell back onto a leafy, moss covered rock. "You stupid fool!" Mark tried to get up but Dan wouldn't let him. Dan leaned his arms onto Mark's shoulders, holding him down. "Do you know what you've done? Because of you the ship is gone, the girls are captured, Barry is dead..."

"Dead? What?"

"Yes, you refused to operate because you didn't know how and you told Brule the wrong way into the park. You see, you didn't trust him at all."

Dan related more tales to the prone Mark--how Fitzhugh was arrested for the murder of a boy that Zerpant actually did. Later when Fitzhugh was caught again--by Doctor Murad--Fitzhugh was electrocuted for the crime--in a toaster. As Dan spoke, Mark could see the reenactment of their deaths before his eyes. Dan yelled, "And me? Look at me!"

Mark saw down Dan's right leg--there was no leg where there should have been one. From the knee down, there was nothing. Mark knew what happened. The anella pin that enabled Kobick's anella pinpointer devices to track all anella had been used to mend Dan's leg back on Earth. Anella in side his leg had to come out or all of them would have been caught. "Dan! Dan, you didn't have to!"

"Steve made better choices than you! He should have been captain, not you!"

Mark heard it reverberate over and over, "Not you! Not you! Not you! NOT YOU!"

As if on cue, Steve emerged from the forest overgrowth, "YOU! I'm gonna kill you! You are the reason we're all dead!" He had the match stick razor blade hatchet in his hand. He raised it and Mark rolled off the rock and ran. He normally wouldn't run but his confusion and sweaty fear were getting the better of him.

Mark ran blindly into the night. Yes, it was night once more, somehow. He ran but stopped short. A muzzle of a propped up, giant revolver was pointed at him. Steve, dressed in Mark's clothes and now sporting his black vest as well, was behind Dan, laughing. "Cut it!"

Steve cut a rope rigging which was hooked up to the gun's catch mechanism. Steve chopped twice and the last thing Mark heard was a loud bang. Something whizzed past him. Mark flung himself back--off a ledge he didn't know was there. Mark fell and fell, landing in a patch of flowers. He stood up quickly, finding himself in the front garden of a giant house. A house he passed before. Marna was in there. Behind the thick wooden fence. Mark saw that it was nearly dawn again. He looked at his clothes: the brown leather jacket over the black sweatshirt. His own clothes of the present day and time. Shaking his head as the sun peeked up, Mark began his search for the others from Spindrift. He tried not to let it upset him that Marna was still lost to him.

Part Seven-Kobick's Nightmare

Inspector Kobick of the SID was asleep in his bed at his middle class home. He drowsed awake, blinking. He tried to refocus his vision. There seemed to be blurry images not far away. Was he dreaming? Panic alerted him as he found he couldn't sit up, off his back. Crouched around him on top of his blanket were tiny people. He saw two small women, both pretty. The one with short hair held a thumb tack over his left side. The one with longer darker hair held a nail on the other side of his chest. He saw that little boy with a cork screw standing very near to his neck. And the fat one--the one the boy called Fitzhugh--was on the other side to his right--with a hat pin aimed also at his neck. Mark Wilson stood near the girl with long red hair, holding a sparking thermal gun. Poised on his own stomach, Kobick could see Dan Erickson holding a two pronged steak knife at his belly. All of them smiled viciously as if enjoying their mission of murder.

Kobick felt tiny movements up his left side. Steve Burton himself, in a gray tee shirt strode up Kobick's chest, holding his own blood stained weapon--a giant fork. He stopped triumphantly to gaze at his victim, his prey, lying helpless. Kobick thought he looked as a mountain climber looked once on top the mountain--conquering the great heights.

The giant man forced himself to speak through his fear, "What have you done to me, you little monster?"

Steve smiled arrogantly, "You mean the reason you can't move. It's one of your own drugs. But don't worry, it's in common use here. It will allow us to have some fun first. You're going to be out for awhile--at least you'd better hope you'll be out when we start what we're going to do."

"Out--like forever," Mark Wilson laughed pompously.

"Enough talk," Dan spat, "Let's finish him."

"Some of us have curari?"

"Yes, captain," Valerie smirked, "Let's torment him as he has tormented all of us."

"Okay," Burton yelled, "NOW!"

Kobick heard a mass shriek that sounded like a wild creature attacking him, he knew it was the group sounding as if it were one. In his fever like delirium, Kobick rolled off his bed and landed on the floor, feeling movements within his blanket. Then stabbing pains. Kobick blacked out.

It was getting darker in the forest. Somehow the little people transported his body into the forest--a park to him. He was on his back in his night clothes and without his spectacles. Burton was on him again. Wilson beside him had the gun, "Open wide."

Before Kobick could react, Burton dropped a pill into his mouth. The two Earthmen chuckled as they scurried off the giant face--down his ear. How degrading they were--to march across his body, use his face as a ladder, and his...wait! Something was very wrong. He heard laughs--their laughter all around him. He couldn't see even one of them now but he heard their whispering and most of all he heard and felt their laughter. He had no time to dwell on it. Kobick abandoned his clothing. He felt his head go beneath his shirt, his feet rose up into his trousers. He blacked out once more.

Kobick came to, dressed in a white rag in an almost diaper fashion. He was now a little person. He stared around him in horror. The park was, indeed, a jungle to him.

"It's better than death, isn't it?" Steve laughed at him, "I've always wanted to do this." He came forward to a shocked Kobick and punched his jaw. Kobick went reeling back and fell, confused.

Fitzhugh was there to face him once he recovered and stood, "Now you'll know how it feels, Inspector. Inspector, hah, Inspector Dumbbell."

The seven of them were there but they began to move away. Kobick asked, "Where...where are you all going?"

"Back to camp," Dan answered as if Kobick should have known the answer.

"Let me come with you!"

Steve laughed and moved closer again, "You? Back at our ship? Are you kidding?"

Betty smiled, close to Steve's shoulder, "That's the last place we'd want you at."

"But...but you can't just leave me here."

"Oh," Mark said in his patronizing style, "But we can."

"You can put me somewhere safe. Not near your camp. Please. Another place."

Valerie walked up to him, passing Steve and Betty, who took no notice. She looked Kobick in the face and went up to Steve, "Steve, he's right. We can't leave him out here. There's all those buggies and big bad wolves and thingees..."

Kobick thought she sounded sympathetic and serious. "Yes. I mean no, you can't. Bugs..."

Val looked at Kobick again, "Maybe I can suggest a place." She walked and as she did she pulled Kobick's arm. When they stopped she prodded him, "Here." She stood him in front of an open cage trap. Everyone laughed. Kobick felt embarrassed, belittled, and left out.

"You don't deserve to come to our camp," Barry said, adding, "...sir," with a sarcastic edge. He scooped up Chipper, his little dog. "Come on, boy, we have to go home, now."

Steve brought his face up to Kobick's, "Besides, you wouldn't want to be cooped up with tiny murderers, would you?"

"Let's go already," Mark spouted impatiently. The group moved off.

Kobick made a move to follow but Fitzhugh put a hand to his chest and shoved. The former giant fell over a twig. The others turned around to watch. They laughed. Everyone walked away as Kobick, on his back, yelled, "You can't treat me like this! It...it's...it's less than human! Come back! Come back! Come back!" As he yelled, a lock of his hair sprung forward onto his forehead.

The chirping of the crickets grew louder. Kobick became hungry. He saw images moving in the dark. A giant, fanged, foaming dog. A cat's clawed paw. A preying mantis moving in with razor sharp legs. A black widow spider crawling onto the twig near him. Kobick moved upward. A giant boa constrictor curled to him. He ran. A giant bear trap snapped shut near his feet. He saw a toy doll in it, a toy doll that resembled him. The doll cut in two and then he heard the laughter of Valerie, Barry, and Betty from somewhere in the jungle. He ran but a giant net fell over him and he sprawled to the ground once more. He turned onto his back.

"Sergeant Arnak! It's me! Inspector Kobick! Don't you recognize me?"

Sergeant Geido joined Arnak, towering over Kobick. "Of course we do. Do you think we're blind, not to notice your features." He looked at Arnak and they shared a private joke-smile. "Don't you notice Burton's and the others' features?" Kobick came out from under the net. "Good, then..." Geido threw a smoke bomb.

"Whaaa?" Kobick gagged as the smoke around him rose. "What are you doing, Sergeant Geido!"

Arnak took out a butterfly net, "But you see Inspector, you're a little person now and our orders from the Council are to apprehend little people no matter what planet they are from!"

"Tell them...uh..gggrrhhh, tell them it's me!" Kobick managed to choke out.

Arnak curled his lip, "Frankly Inspector, they already know you're one of them. The Council has suspected your traitorship to the little people for some time."

"That's ridiculous, Sergeant Arnak!"

Arnak reached for him but Kobick ran from his former underlings. He saw a giant foot. Above him, Sergeant Karf held a transmitter device and he heard a booming voice which hurt his ears, "He's here! That pin on his diaper must be anella!"

Valerie's laughs joined those of Dan and Fitzhugh. Kobick fled as if in a nightmare. He saw toadstools and they sprayed dust at him as if they were squeezed. He raised his arms and backed up from them but it was too late. Kobick ran and managed to find his way out of the jungle which was so alive with danger for him.

But he ran blindly. He didn't see the bricks beneath him, nor the edge of the giant built-in swimming pool. He ran over them and plunged into a blue darkness. The pool was empty of water. Kobick spun. He awoke with a start.

Kobick found himself in his seat behind his desk in the office at SID headquarters. This was not surprising: he often slept in his chair overnight. He had done so many times before in contemplation on how to capture Burton and the others from the group he wanted badly. Now, he waited out the hours before Dr. Burger would return to lead him into the forest to the little people spaceship. Those little people. He had quite a file on them. He couldn't figure it out: were they menaces or just victims who made bad mistakes?

There were murders: an optometrist named Murtrah, Captain Ashem of the Security Police, Dr. Kraal, Professor Gorn--and this one we know Wilson was involved in somehow despite his clearance of Gorn's assistant Zoral's murder. Yet somehow other information he had didn't fit--they had saved a hobo framed of murder, ditto Martin Reed who would have been executed if they hasn't intervened. They also seemed somehow involved in the clearance of Inidu the magician and the capture of the culprit--the murderer Enog. Perhaps these incidents were just flukes to throw him off the trail. No, they had risked their lives dearly to help the people they came across. That could not be all for just a red herring to throw me off the track, Kobick figured. Even so--they could not roam around this country freely--doing so even now--when most citizens were under the scrutiny of the Supreme Council--even him.

While he had a file on the Earth people--the Council had a file on him---and his defeats by them. It didn't matter if the little people were good natured or not--he had a job to do and he had to do it no matter what he thought, no matter his feelings or the truth about them: tiny killer invaders or lost innocents with hearts of gold. He had to find them and give them to the state. They had to be watched, studied, given their place in this government, no matter how undignified that place would be. And to serve this government, this society, even this planet they HAD to share their knowledge with me...us. For them not to do so would be depriving our people of advancement. It was selfish or them not to.

What was that? Kobick saw his lamp move--ever so slightly. No? Yes. It did move. One of the little beggars must be sliding down the cord. He jumped. The lamp fell to the floor. He caught movement at a vent. Kobick kicked it in. He saw a blurry object dash under the door, so he opened it quickly and grabbed a stack of books from a shelf and tossed them into the hallway. He slammed the door shut. Something stepped across his shoe! Someone moved up his leg, under his pants! Kobick began to wildly hit his own leg, his pockets on his pants and jacket. The cage on his desk had a ripped hole in its side.

Kobick saw movement at the window--a crack in it. He ran to it and shoved a pointer across the window sill. Something caught his eye running beneath the coat hanger rack. He kicked it and dumped it over. It hit the window, cracking it further. Something ran behind the file cabinet. Kobick grabbed the pointer and struck out at the space behind the cabinet.

The door opened. Kobick stopped himself within inches of hitting Sergeant Eson with the pointer. "You!"

Eson breathed out, "Can I help you, sir?"

He and others may have seen his entire outburst, on some hidden camera perhaps. Hidden in his office. Yes, that was like them to do that. They were against him, too.

Kobick turned to the desk, dropping the pointer. Who was the savage now? He laughed, then spotted the cage on his desk. There was no rip in the side, no tear. The lamp was in place. Kobick picked it up and smashed it to the wall. Eson flinched. Tonight, at least, Kobick realized, the little people were never even in the room. "Clean this place up, Sergeant."

Eson began to, "Yes sir." He was a loyal sergeant, perhaps the most loyal. So loyal in fact, that if he was the only one who knew about this odd behavior tonight--he would report this to the Supreme ones. The Council would not take it lightly. At worst, they would put him on trial, at the least, they'd send him away on Special Assignment--away from the little people. He'd request one that involved Earthlings though--there were other reports of other little people---or were there? Weren't there? He couldn't remember just yet.

Kobick realized he was out of his nightmare. He had been out of it since falling into that imaginary giant swimming pool. His fear of the little people was no dream. It was for real. A real nightmare for him. And he'd make it their nightmare, too. But somehow it just wouldn't seem the same.


End file.
